Some players want to show they can keep their heads while turning scouts' heads at PIT

April 09, 2011|By Melinda Waldrop, mwaldrop@dailypress.com | 247-4634

PORTSMOUTH — Bill Clark wants to prove he can play.

He also wants to show he's a changed person.

Clark, a 6-foot-5, 210-pound swing player who averaged 16.3 points as a senior at Duquesne, is one of several players at this year's Portsmouth Invitational Tournament trying to turn NBA heads while demonstrating they can keep theirs.

Clark was suspended in March 2010 for conduct unbecoming the team. Mississippi State's Ravern Johnson was suspended in February for criticizing coach Rick Stansbury in a tweet, then skipping two days of practice. West Virginia's Casey Mitchell was suspended in January for violating team rules.

"I was going through a lot with the coaches and my mom being real sick with cancer," said Mitchell, who opened the PIT by scoring 23 points and had 17 on Friday night. "I shouldn't have let it get to me and get me in trouble at school, but I put that behind me and I'm ready to start my new future.

"… I think this tournament is a really big step in helping my career and my future. I just want to do the best I can, keep a smile, keep my head, keep my image good and just play hard and show people that I want to win."

Johnson said he learned from his suspension that "everything I say, people are looking at," he said. "It was a difficult time I was going through, but I fought through it."

Clark has called his suspension the best thing that ever happened to him.

"It kind of gave me a reality check," he said. "I wasn't really being a team player. I was kind of an outcast on the team. I isolated myself."

Clark's self-imposed exile as he journeyed from California to Oak Hill Academy to Duquesne was documented in a recent SI.com article, which also revealed his non-relationship with his father, William Clinton Clark, sentenced to California's death row in 1997 for his role in two killings.

"I had never really spoken about it, but my mom and I have talked for years that my story needs to get out there," Clark said. "Hopefully I can inspire others."

Clark's Duquesne teammate, Damian Saunders, is also playing in the PIT, and witnessed Clark's transformation from outsider to leader first-hand.

"He became a much better teammate, telling the younger guys what to do and just being a mentor for the team," Saunders said.

That was the change Dukes coach Ron Everhart, tired of Clark's argumentative attitude, hoped for when he suspended Clark.

"Bill had that little bit of an edge, that chip-on-his-shoulder competitive thing that set him apart, (but) the thing that made him special was also the thing that made him a little unruly," Everhart said. " … I don't know if he had ever been in a position where he had looked at himself as being a leader or a guy people looked up to, (but) I realized I had to make him understand. It was a non-negotiable issue. He was going to have to become a leader. He was going to have to become a better teammate."

"People do mature," said Ryan Blake, NBA director of scouting. "(Clark) has come out publicly and said, 'This is who I was. I had a chip on my shoulder. I felt I deserved this, and I realized it was stupid.' "

Clark's PIT debut made a much more positive impression. He scored 19 points in 11 minutes on Thursday night, making all seven shots he attempted in that stretch, including five 3-pointers.

"Everybody dreams about that game," said Chris Ekstrand, a 25-year NBA consultant and insider. "Even if you are a good shooter, they don't come that often."

Clark's scoring outburst wasn't a one-on-five, look-at-me extravaganza. He popped open 3's within the flow of the game while also looking for his teammates.

"There's always going to be one or two players here that still have that chip on their shoulder. It's how you use it," Blake said. "If you want to prove somebody wrong, that's great motivation, (but) it's a team sport. (If) someone keeps shooting, and it's something selfish and not team-oriented, it's not going to be a plus mark on a scouting report. … Just launching balls, not passing or trying to create, and making the floor stagnant - that wasn't what Bill was doing by any means."

Plenty of scouting reports are generated at the PIT, with NBA scouts stacked three rows deep and scouts from just about every foreign country imaginable scribbling notes.

"(Clark) can shoot," Blake said. "He may be a serviceable guy. It only takes one team to like him."

Ekstrand said some teams don't want players with troubled pasts, just like some won't consider international players, or players shorter than a certain height.

"If they're interested, they'll investigate it further. They'll find out everything they can," Ekstrand said. " … We all know (Clark) has some ability. A guy like Bill Clark might not be a strong NBA prospect, but he's a professional basketball prospect."

Blake lobbied for Clark's inclusion in the 64-player PIT because "he's good. He shoots the ball well. He plays really hard on defense."

Then Blake offers the praise that may mean the most to Clark: "He's a team player."

"I've been through a lot in my life," Clark said. "I've overcome a lot. I feel like I've grown tremendously. I don't want to let my emotions and my attitude prevent me from playing on."

"What I tell everybody I talk to - and I have talked to quite a few people - is that the simple truth is this: He's one of the hardest-working people you'll ever be around," Everhart said. "He really relishes the opportunity to compete every day, (and) he's really focused on becoming a better teammate.